2014 Marlow-Hunter 40 with Yanmar 4JH5E (54 HP & SailDrive SD50) and ElectroMaax 140a Alternator
My wife and I currently own the new Marlow-Hunter 40, hull #1, which we have placed in SailTime Orange County. We have had 2 years of relatively trouble free usage with just the normal wear and tear on the systems. We recently experienced an electrical issue that had several professional mechanics and myself flummoxed by the inability to correctly diagnose the situation. Our electrical system is comprised of two 4D AGM batteries serving the house systems augmented by solar panel system on the hardtop that was part of the Marlow Hunter 40th Anniversary package installed by the manufacturer on hull #1. The engine has a dedicated group 31 starting battery that is also augmented by its own solar panel also installed by the manufacturer. Both of these battery banks are maintained by a 2000 watt Magnum Inverter/Battery Charger and the typical 30AMP shore power supply.
While on a weekend escape, we typically will fire up the engine for about an hour in the morning so that we can make coffee, generate some hot water and allow my wife to use her blow dryer – gotta keep the wife happy! Well on the 3rd morning of our escape, I fired up the engine but noticed that the tachometer wasn’t working? Odd, we’ve never had an issue like that, but I didn’t really give it too much thought at the time. When I looked at the battery voltmeter, I was surprised to find the house system only registering 10.4 volts – this was after running the engine at an estimated 1500 RPM for about an hour and a half! Coming from an automotive background, my inside voice was saying, I really need to install an ammeter to be able to see what was really happening! But, we were headed home and I figured I’d dig into the situation there. The more I thought about things, I kept coming to the same conclusion – no tach, no charging, the alternator and/or regulator must be bad! Once back to our slip, I figured I’ll just take the alternator off, run it over to a local rebuilder and have it tested to believing it would confirm my thoughts. Well, the alternator tested fine but the electrical shop did not have the proper connectors or wiring diagram to correctly test the internal regulator. I decided just to call up ElectroMaax and get a new alternator and be done with it.
After having a new alternator shipped out, I installed it and everything seemed to be fine. The wife and I made a trip to Catalina Island to test out the systems and everything seemed good. Two days later, one of our SailTime members took the boat to Catalina and experienced a full blown electrical failure! I had the local marine repair guy dinghy over to the boat on the mooring to try to ascertain what was happening. Knowing that I had just installed a new alternator, he didn’t really dig too deep into the diagnostics but checked out the batteries and the voltage coming from the alternator and said everything looked good but in his mind, the alternator “must” have failed again.
I called up John at ElectroMaax and explained the situation. He was pretty damn confident that the alternator could not have failed. I reluctantly went along with his suggestions to perform further testing on the electrical system – focusing intently on the batteries and their connections. Needing to fly out for work, I had my mechanic do some additional testing while I was away. My mechanic assured me that the batteries were in a good state and all the connections were tight as could be. So say I was tweaked would be an understatement! I called up ElectroMaax to get a replacement alternator shipped out ASAP but said that I would perform some extra testing that John requested I do because he knew the alternator wasn’t the issue!! I ended up pulling the twin 4D AGM batteries out from beneath the sole of the cabin (no easy task!) and took them to a battery shop to have a full load test performed. As it turned out, one of the batteries had a cell that had shorted out and was debilitating enough to take down the entire charging system! Had the boat come with an ammeter, it would have made diagnosing the problem SOOO much easier!
If it hadn’t been for John Stephens and all the time and effort he put into helping me come to a correct diagnosis, I’d probably still be chasing that elusive “bad alternator”! As John kept telling me (and I kept doubting him!), if an alternator is going to fail, it will do so almost immediately! If the alternator appears to “fail” as I was sure mine did, there has to be another factor contributing to its demise!
I hope the saga that I went through and have described, and the tremendous assistance and concern that John and the rest of the ElectroMaax team provided helps others!
My wife and I currently own the new Marlow-Hunter 40, hull #1, which we have placed in SailTime Orange County. We have had 2 years of relatively trouble free usage with just the normal wear and tear on the systems. We recently experienced an electrical issue that had several professional mechanics and myself flummoxed by the inability to correctly diagnose the situation. Our electrical system is comprised of two 4D AGM batteries serving the house systems augmented by solar panel system on the hardtop that was part of the Marlow Hunter 40th Anniversary package installed by the manufacturer on hull #1. The engine has a dedicated group 31 starting battery that is also augmented by its own solar panel also installed by the manufacturer. Both of these battery banks are maintained by a 2000 watt Magnum Inverter/Battery Charger and the typical 30AMP shore power supply.
While on a weekend escape, we typically will fire up the engine for about an hour in the morning so that we can make coffee, generate some hot water and allow my wife to use her blow dryer – gotta keep the wife happy! Well on the 3rd morning of our escape, I fired up the engine but noticed that the tachometer wasn’t working? Odd, we’ve never had an issue like that, but I didn’t really give it too much thought at the time. When I looked at the battery voltmeter, I was surprised to find the house system only registering 10.4 volts – this was after running the engine at an estimated 1500 RPM for about an hour and a half! Coming from an automotive background, my inside voice was saying, I really need to install an ammeter to be able to see what was really happening! But, we were headed home and I figured I’d dig into the situation there. The more I thought about things, I kept coming to the same conclusion – no tach, no charging, the alternator and/or regulator must be bad! Once back to our slip, I figured I’ll just take the alternator off, run it over to a local rebuilder and have it tested to believing it would confirm my thoughts. Well, the alternator tested fine but the electrical shop did not have the proper connectors or wiring diagram to correctly test the internal regulator. I decided just to call up ElectroMaax and get a new alternator and be done with it.
After having a new alternator shipped out, I installed it and everything seemed to be fine. The wife and I made a trip to Catalina Island to test out the systems and everything seemed good. Two days later, one of our SailTime members took the boat to Catalina and experienced a full blown electrical failure! I had the local marine repair guy dinghy over to the boat on the mooring to try to ascertain what was happening. Knowing that I had just installed a new alternator, he didn’t really dig too deep into the diagnostics but checked out the batteries and the voltage coming from the alternator and said everything looked good but in his mind, the alternator “must” have failed again.
I called up John at ElectroMaax and explained the situation. He was pretty damn confident that the alternator could not have failed. I reluctantly went along with his suggestions to perform further testing on the electrical system – focusing intently on the batteries and their connections. Needing to fly out for work, I had my mechanic do some additional testing while I was away. My mechanic assured me that the batteries were in a good state and all the connections were tight as could be. So say I was tweaked would be an understatement! I called up ElectroMaax to get a replacement alternator shipped out ASAP but said that I would perform some extra testing that John requested I do because he knew the alternator wasn’t the issue!! I ended up pulling the twin 4D AGM batteries out from beneath the sole of the cabin (no easy task!) and took them to a battery shop to have a full load test performed. As it turned out, one of the batteries had a cell that had shorted out and was debilitating enough to take down the entire charging system! Had the boat come with an ammeter, it would have made diagnosing the problem SOOO much easier!
If it hadn’t been for John Stephens and all the time and effort he put into helping me come to a correct diagnosis, I’d probably still be chasing that elusive “bad alternator”! As John kept telling me (and I kept doubting him!), if an alternator is going to fail, it will do so almost immediately! If the alternator appears to “fail” as I was sure mine did, there has to be another factor contributing to its demise!
I hope the saga that I went through and have described, and the tremendous assistance and concern that John and the rest of the ElectroMaax team provided helps others!
